Ackermann: Sergeal ready for Test rugby

Sun, 16 Oct 2016 18:30

REACTION: Golden Lions head coach Johan Ackermann believes that Free State Cheetahs wing Sergeal Petersen is ready to play for the Springboks.

Petersen was in fine form during the Cheetahs' 55-17 demolition of the Golden Lions in Saturday's Currie Cup Premier Division semifinal in Bloemfontein. The 22-year-old scored a hat-trick of tries in the game and impressed Ackermann during the 80 minutes.

Petersen was also part of the 2016 SA 'A' squad, which Ackermann coached in June against the England Saxons.

"He is good," said Ackermann after the match.

"He has that x-factor; he is fast...he is ready for Test rugby in my opinion.

"People can look for faults, but I will definitely give him the chance."

Ackermann said his team was taught a rugby lesson at the Free State Stadium and there were not many positives he could think of.

"Our attack - we did not handle the ball the way we would have liked.

"I think the only things that went well for us was the line-outs and the scrums. We learnt a hard lesson and credit to the Cheetahs, they played good," Ackermann added.

Golden Lions captain Albertus Smith said they failed to get a foothold in the game because of the Cheetahs' fantastic defence.

"Their [Cheetahs] defence was great today [Saturday]," said Smith.

"Their line speed was great - we could not get into our rhythm and we could not get our running rugby on the go.

"They used their opportunities when they had the ball...we could not execute our opportunities because we lost a lot of balls and I think those were the opportunities we could have used."